The Audley Public House — Restaurant in London

🚇 Bond Street 🍺 £7.00 Pagoda Pilsner ❤️ Maybe the most beautiful pub in London. . The Audley is located on the corner of Mayfair’s South Audley Street and Mount Street. The nearest tube is Bond Street which is a pleasant ten minute amble away. . This magnificent boozer was built in 1889 by Thomas Verity, Verity also built the pavilion at Lords cricket ground. The original pub on this site was The Bricklayers Arms which was built in 1730. . The decor here is simply stunning. The dark wood interiors, solid mahogany bar, brown leather booths and traditional patterned carpet nod to the building’s history, plus restored features are dotted throughout the room, from the 19th century carving knife used when the pub first opened is framed on the wall and the original fireplace to the 19th-century ceiling clock. Then there is the glorious ceiling which was specially commissioned work by British artist Phyllida Barlow. Every detail of this interior is beautiful and considered. . I ordered a pint of Pagoda Pilsner which hails from @sambrooksbrew in Wandsworth. Another new brew for me and a thoroughly enjoyable pint but it did cost £7. The food here is elevated bar snacks and British pub classics. As I was caught up in the moment I decided to try the 1/2 Pint of Prawns, the prawns were so fresh and delicious and I could have managed a pint of them. They did cost £12 so I decided to stick. . I visited on a sunny Saturday afternoon back in October and the pub was absolutely packed. The pub had not long reopened after a lengthy refurb, there were plenty of locals and tourists keen to see the new look and try out the fayre. I was lucky enough to find a seat, to left of me was a Russian couple enjoying Fish and chips, to my right was a large group of Americans enjoying an afternoon drink. The benches outside were also busy, there was a friendly doorman ensuring everyone was ok, he is the smartest London doorman I’ve ever seen. . Visiting the @audleypublichouse was a fantastic experience, everything about this pub just oozes class. The price point is high, but go on treat yourself, you’ll love it here. . ℹ️ Info correct on...

In a word – deplorable. If we could give this place zero stars, we would do so.

Our main courses took a long time to arrive, already a bad sign. The meat in the beef and ale pie, was tough but there was not much of it as the contents were mainly gristle and fat; the accompanying mashed potatoes arrived barely warm and were soon indigestibly cold. The shepherd’s pie was dull and needed the gravy from the beef and ale pie to give it any life.

Worst was the response to our comments. The bar manager could not be bothered to come to us and when we eventually dragged him over, his language, non-verbal communication and body language were all wrong. He could not take responsibility for anything ; he told us that he was responsible for the bar only and not for the cooked dishes which are part of the bar offering. When we asked for the name of his manager, he gave us a generic card and just told us to ring the switchboard and ask for somebody. His attitude was one of total irresponsibility – a man who took the hospitality out of the hospitality industry.

We ended with desserts which were comical throwbacks to an era which is – thankfully – gone; they were over-sugared, the chocolate cake bar could have sunk a ship and the Chelsea ice cream and honey might have been a good idea but, given the execution, it was impossible to know.

This place began well but has deteriorated very rapidly, which is very surprising given the plaudits given to other parts of the Artfarm operation. The overall management needs to give urgent attention...

We had a big team lunch in the room upstairs..despite arriving in time for our reservation, the staff made us wait as they still hadn't cleared the breakfast booking they had earlier. The windows were wide open despite it being a miserable rainy day, so the atmosphere was not cosy to start with, until we asked for the windows to be closed. One of my colleagues ordered scallops to start but didn't realise that the dish came with pancetta. Not being able to eat pork for religious reasons, he asked for the dish without pancetta - the dish returned to be table approx.1 minute later without the meat, but obviously the same scallops. You would think it was obvious that the dish needed to be remade without the pancetta, rather than just removed. Once everyone had their main meals and started eating, I reminded then waiter that we were still waiting on my dish, and he told me that my fish had been burnt so they were redoing my meal...it took about 20 minutes and all my colleagues had finished by the time i got my meal. Also I ordered "whole lemon sole" and got a small portion of lemon sole. It was taken off the menu but honestly I would have been disappointed even if it came out on time! Bit of a failed lunch really, won't be...